I WAS going to give Rossendale snow chaos a miss as there has already been a blizzard of opinions on the subject.

However, I have been amazed by how many people have tackled me, asking what I intend to do about it! That surprises me. I hold no elected office nor can I do much about the climate. I am just a humble, albeit opinionated, soap box orator.

Personally I don’t know how well the county council has done in relation to the rest of the country. I have to say the roads looked after by the Highways Agency seem to have fared better. As for the borough council I think they have adopted a casual attitude to the whole thing.

Having said that, when I ventured into Manchester it was so icy underfoot that I skidded about like Torvill or Dean (I can never remember which one is which).

I was actually glad to get back to the icy ridges, sorry pavements, of Bank Street. Much has been said about keeping the primary routes clear, which is fine and dandy but here in Rossendale we live in a valley which means lots of hills. It’s not much use having a clear “primary route” if just 10 yards up a side street your are marooned in Antarctica.

I feel this weather is going to become a regular occurrence – we always get some snowfall – and I would make this suggestion. Why don’t we have a Lancashire Local (before they do away with them) on the cold snap?

I don’t think any purpose would be served simply having a go at the council. It would be useful to look at what went well, what went badly and what will we do differently.

From that the council could prepare a transparent plan. I am sure there are a lot of people around with very sound ideas on how to improve things. One I like is for the council to buy snow plough attachments that could be fitted to tractors. Local farmers could be then be hired to use them to clear side roads.

What would also be prudent would be to build up a genuine emergency fund that would allow the council to bring in contractors to clear pavements and car parks.